everyday yoga for the everyday man

Contrary to what you might think, you don’t actually need a yoga mat to do yoga. Think about it: do you need a baseball diamond to play baseball, shoes to go running, or goggles to go swimming? These things only serve to support the actual movements. The yoga mat is a great tool to add a little bit of padding between you and the floor, plus it offers grip on smooth surfaces.  This helps when doing many postures that require you to ground down into the floor (see also GROUNDING DOWN). If you just feel like trying out a few postures, you can practice them anywhere that you can stand. It’s that easy.

Most yoga studios offer free loner mats to their students.  Use them. As you practice more, you’ll realize that having a yoga mat is extremely helpful. It becomes a familiar surface, one that your body recognizes. This allows you to drop in even deeper into the practice. It’s much more comfortable to roll around on your back or sit with the ankles against the ground when there is a little padding between you and the floor.

On one hand, it’s just a yoga mat and a place to practice. On the other, it becomes a second home and scared place. For however long you decide to spend on it, you can leave behind all of the stuff you don’t need while you practice. Much like a favorite pair of shoes, you may even grow attached to your yoga mat. Just be sure to take care of it as you would a good friend (see also SWEAT, SHOES). A little respect goes a long way, and everything good you put in, your liable to get much more in return.

It’s hard being a guy in a yoga class, especially when starting out because…

• Everyone knows what to do.
• They already understand that crazy secret language to yoga teacher speaks in.
• Nobody else is sweating like a fat kid in a candy shop.
• The girls are so much more flexible than us.
• We want to be the best in the class, because we’re men and we love competition. Wah

One common thing overheard from most seasoned yoga veterans: “When I first started doing yoga, I couldn’t even touch my toes.” They usually say this either right after or right before they tuck both legs behind their head.  While the sight of that can be somewhat intimidating, the thought is also extremely inspiring as well. There is a good chance that most average jogis—with a little dedication, determination and patience—will be able to touch their toes comfortably.

However, yoga ain’t just about touching toes, putting your nose on the floor in a forward fold, or tying your body up in a pretzel.  Yoga isn’t a race. There is no finish line. There is always one more step to take, somebody more flexible than you, and volumes more to understand.  One of the most important focuses of yoga is learning to accept the body as it is, work with what you have, and slowly expand its capabilities while closely observing what you already think you know.  In time, your hands will get where they need to be, toes or otherwise.

So you can’t touch your toes. Big deal. Ask yourself why do you really want to? The real skill isn’t in grabbing your feet. At first, that could be extremely hard. Eventually you might touch them. Heck, you might even be able to wrap your legs behind your neck. However, you might also end up learning a much more valuable skill that that: listening to your body. For some body types, touching your toes may never happen. For others, it happens too easily. Flexibility isn’t just about opening up the body. It’s also about opening up the mind to accept what’s happening in the moment. Yoga is more about the challenge and less about the competition.

I’m not going to lie to you and say that there is no competition in yoga. Of course, there is competition in yoga. Your biggest rival is yourself! And guess what… he knows all of your buttons, when to push them, and is very good at distracting you from the task at hand.

Competition is purely created by the people practicing it, not by the practice itself.  We want to touch our toes. When we finally do, we notice someone jumping through from downward dog to paschimottasana. Yikes. And then somebody else has a great headstand in the middle of the room. We want to do that, too, so we practice over and over. And then, of course, handstands look so cool…

Flexibility can be defined as the full range of motion available at any given time. It’s hard to say when you will become more flexible if you are unable to let go of how you define flexibility. If you never have done yoga, and you’ve just decided to start practicing regularly, just making the decision shows a great potential for flexibility. Don’t lose that. If flexibility is the opposite of tightness, of stiffness, of unbending rigidity, apply that to everything your doing on and off the yoga mat. You might be surprised with how fast you actually open up, not only in the body, but in other places as well.

After all, flexibility doesn’t always have to relate to physical openness. Yup– there is something much bigger than the body here, guys. Just because you can physically touch your toes doesn’t mean you’re able to perform the equivalent emotionally or spiritually. Yes, everyone in the class might be so graceful, so flexible, so smooth. That doesn’t mean they didn’t start out rolling around like wet logs. Furthermore, just because they can wrap their arms around their torso 14 times does not mean they can handle stress any better than someone who hasn’t seen their feet in a few years.

Remember this: soft face, soft breath, soft body, soft mind, soft practice. It’s all connected. When you’re working hard, feeling the burn, and you can barely lift your arms… how does your face look? Is it all scrunched up? Are you clenching your jaw? When was the last time you took a deep breath? Most importantly, what makes this any different than how you handle yourself at the office, with your friends, driving in traffic, or going to the mall? Flexibility is simply connecting with softness and letting go of tension.

Take a deep breath. Release. Relax.

If there is one thing you will here over and over here at average joga is that Yoga is not a race. There is no finish line.

Just do yoga. Let the rest sort itself out.

I hate not wearing shoes, and let’s be honest here, sometimes my dogs stink..

Stepping onto the yoga mat wearing your favorite kicks is like playing dodgeball with flippers on. Even if you get pretty good at it, imagine how much better you’ll be once you take them off. Plus, you’ll receive a lot less funny looks from the other people in the room. Yoga is meant to remove distractions and excess from your range of awareness. Physically, an unobstructed connection to the world during practice helps to develop the body without the need for weights or excess props.

The quick answer here is that yoga focuses a great deal on finding inner balance. It helps to minimize the distraction between your physical body and the world around it. Yoga mat notwithstanding, it’s best to keep the socks and shoes out of your practice so you can really connect every part of your foot with the earth below it. Shoes may offer support and grip, but deaden the sensation of the floor while blocking a true connection to the soles of your feet.  Socks might keep your feet toasty, but tend to slide on most surfaces and make balancing much harder. Anyway, most studios are usually pretty warm, and the body tends to heat up fairly quickly once it starts to move (see also SWEAT).

The bottom line is that you want to give yourself a full range of motion in the whole foot, not just in the ankles or toes. See for yourself: try taking a few steps—eyes closed—with shoes, with socks, and then barefoot. Which way do you feel more sensation? Each one of those sensations will help you develop a better relationship with the world around you.

Yoga studios take all of this into consideration for your practice, but often the real reason why we’re asked to remove our shoes is so we don’t track dirt into the sacred space they’ve created for people to practice in. Consider it the yogic equivalent of the old adage “We don’t swim in your toilet, so don’t pee in our pool.”

And, bro… if your dogs stink so much you don’t want to take off your shoes, here are a few suggestions that may help:

-Get new shoes. If you can’t remember when you bought the shoes on your feet, there is a good chance that it’s time for a new pair. Bacteria and fungus love warm, dark and moist places. Consider this if you don’t like to take your shoes off very much—you’ve literally become a walking high school biology project. Congratulations!

-Wash your socks regularly. See above.

-Regularly clean your feet. We’re guys. We shave. We brush our teeth, bite our nails from time to time, and give ourselves a good once over down there every so often. What else is there to do? I’m not saying you need to get a French manicure every Sunday with the ladies, but scrubbing the soles and toes a few times a week not only feels good, but will help to cut down on stank. Bonus points if you use soap.

-Talcum powder.  Shoes and sock hold moisture in. Sweat is moisture. Talcum powder absorbs moisture. Give it a try. Just don’t apply it right before yoga. Do it in the morning, after the shower and foot scrubbing. I’m quite partial to Gold Bond’s Medicated Powder. It’s heavenly.